THE NEGRO FRIEND. J. A. W. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."-John xv. 13. On “In one of his voyages to the West Indies, he had contracted an acquaintance with a black man of the name of Quamina, whom he kindly taught to read. some occasion he was dispatched to the shore with the boat's crew, of which Quamina was one. On its return to the ship, the boat was upset in the surf, and the sailors were soon swept by the billows from the keel, to which, in the first confusion, they had all adhered. In this extremity, Rushton swam towards a small water-cask, which he saw floating at a distance. Quamina had gained this point of safety before him; and when the generous negro saw that his friend was too much exhausted to reach the cask, he pushed it towards him-bade him good bye-and sank to rise no more. This anecdote Mr. Rushton has often related,-and never without dropping a grateful tear to the memory of Quamina.”(Memoir prefixed to the Poems of the late Edward Rushton, of Liverpool.) "PULL, pull the oar!-The winds arise: Each sinew let us strain! A watery grave before us lies, Unless our bark we gain! Quick, furl the sail, and strike the mast, The tempest round us gathers fast Heaven help us in our need!" "Tis vain! 'tis vain! the pilot's skill, To shun the wave the steersman's art The hapless crew, with beating heart, Awhile the keel precarious aid But, one by one, benumbed, dismayed, Of Afric seems to brave (While fast and fierce the surges run) With hope each crested wave. What groan is heard? Yon white man see, -The humble negro's friend, Is faintly struggling on the lee, And sinking to his end. “Haste—haste, and seize this floating cask,Quamina well can swim: Quamina will of Heaven but ask His friend to save for him!" He spake; and, as he spake, resigned Struggled awhile with wave and wind, But soon his course was run: He sank-the ooze of ocean's bed Became Quamina's bier; But oft for him one white man shed Yes:-oft within his British home, A similar, and still more affecting act of African devotedness, is recorded in Roberts's Life of Hannah More. CHRIST THE TRUEST FRIEND. (From a Collection of Psalms and Hymns, published by Messrs. Seeley and Co.-Twenty-third Edition.) "Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.-But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."-Rom. v. 7, 8. IF human kindness meets return, O, shall not warmer accents tell The gratitude we owe To Him who died, our fears to quell, Remember Thee! thy death, thy shame, INTERVAL OF GRATEFUL SHADE. DODDRIDGE. INTERVAL of grateful shade, Thou, my ever bounteous God, Crown'st my days with various good: Thy kind eye, that cannot sleep, These defenceless hours shall keep: Blest vicissitude to me! Day and night I'm still with Thee. What though downy slumbers flee, Lodged within my Father's breast. my intellectual powers; And his Spirit doth diffuse, |